Beverly D’Angelo

Beverly D’Angelo has played many roles in her long acting career, including that of alpha female Babs Miller on Entourage, but for many of us, she was, is and always will be the smokin’ hot Midwestern MILF Ellen Griswold from the Vacation film franchise.

SEX APPEAL

She may be in her mid-50s and have a few extra pounds, but Beverly D’Angelo still exudes more sex appeal than some women half her age. Her appeal is in her foxiness, and in the sense that she could turn bitch on you without a moment’s notice (you’d never see it coming) and, before you could catch your breath, she’d go all sweet on you.

Granted, she can’t top Ellen Griswold’s memorable bathroom strip-tease from European Vacation, but that tantalizing flick practically launched the amateur porn industry.

SUCCESS

Although she has earned precious few nominations for her work (she’s been nominated for an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Satellite Award, but won none of them), Beverly D’Angelo’s acting career has been steady since 1977, working almost consistently since then, and often on quality productions.

Beverly D’Angelo Biography

Beverly D’Angelo was born to musical parents; her mother played the violin and her father played the bass. She studied voice when she was young but soon abandoned it to become an actress. She first appeared on stage in 1975 performing in The Zinger, and then played Ophelia in a musical in New York City entitled Rockabye Hamlet.

beverly d’angelo in annie hall and coal miner’s daughter

Her acting career truly took off in the late 1970s, thanks to roles in huge films such as Annie Hall, Every Which Way But Loose and Coal Miner’s Daughter. However, her biggest breakthrough came in 1983 when she first played the role of long-suffering but optimistic Ellen Griswold opposite Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s Vacation, a role she reprised three more times over the next 14 years, ending with 1997’s Vegas Vacation. Along with many other films, she had a notable role in American History X with Edward Norton.

beverly d’angelo on entourage

On television, Beverly D’Angelo has three times played recurring characters. The first role was as Lurleen Lumpkin on a 1992 episode of The Simpsons, which she reprised in 2008. She also played a defense attorney in a number of episodes of Law and Order: SVU. Finally, she has played Barbara ‘Babs’ Miller, Ari Gold’s mentor and business partner, on HBO’s Entourage.